Falklanders

[Pablo]

One of the participants in the Vendée Globe round the world single handed race has decided to pay a visit to the Falklands to repare a rail problem on his mast. So if you see a bloke up his mast in a sheltered bay give him a wave. For more info : http://www.vendeeglobe.org/

Have a look at the map. I'm supporting Steve White from Weymouth whos doing a fantastic race bearing in mind his lack of sponsor and the particularly harsh conditions that have seen more than half of them abandon.

[BogMonster]

I missed that, only found out about it in Friday's paper by which time I guess he had long gone!

[Pablo]

His pitstop only lasted 5 hours. Tying up to a bouy when you're on you own on a 60 ft sailing boat without engine having been 3/4 around the world none stop can't have been easy. He then climbed up to the top of the mast with a load of tools to do his repairs. I'm well impressed.

[BogMonster]

I'm impressed too - there weren't any buoys in Port William last time I looked

I went out on Dad's little flappy boat recently in a breeze I wouldn't think twice about in the RIB and it scared the sh** out of me so I have a lot more respect for anybody nuts enough to go round the world by themselves in a big flappy one

[Pablo]

Another sailer is going to tie up at the same place. There's a RIB who is going to throw him some medecin and he's going to repair his sail.

[BogMonster]

What, like this you mean?

Didn't get his sail fixed though it didn't seem to slow him down, he was off at over 10kt even in light winds, must be a beauty with all the flappy bits flapping and 25kts of wind behind it

[Polwart]

whats the blue contraption on the transom?

[BogMonster]

It's a wind powered potato cutter for making French Fries when he is peckish

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by Polwart

whats the blue contraption on the transom?

Looks a bit like one of these: http://www.quietrevolution.co.uk/qr5.htm

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by John Kennett

Looks a bit like one of these: http://www.quietrevolution.co.uk/qr5.htm

Well spotted that man. He's arguably got the slowest boat of the fleet as it's the most environmentally friendly boat. They all have diesel generators onboard to generate electricity but his boat is covered with solar panels and he's got that wind generator.

Here is a bit more information about him http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/editio...l-dinelli.html
He nearly died on his first attempt at the race when his boat capsized and his body temperature went down to 30° in the southern Pacific.